Paint Night

We had another paint night at work. It was a drug company reward. This time it was a little different. Instead of painting on canvas we did doormats. 

It started with a stencil. I picked the flamingo. 

After peeling off the backing the stencil was placed on the mat.  Using a stiff brush and a stippling technique, the stencil was filled in with paint. 

Tada!  I like how it turned out. 

Everyone had a good time. And now I have something the replace the “all cats are welcomed” mat. Because as we now know, all cats are definitely not welcomed. 
 

In Bloom At The 4Rs

It has been a fantastic season for flowers. 

I planted cosmos for the first time. I remember grandma use to have it volunteer around her garden. Who knew it would grow so tall?  I love the variety of pinks, my favorite color. 

The butterflies like them too. 

This year the black-eyed-Susan’s have been spectacular. Usually the Japanese beetles eat the petals but that is the one pest that hasn’t been bad this year. 

They will survive me digging them up for another year. 

I planted this Dalia last year but the rabbits ate it.  It never got big enough to bloom. I thought it died and didn’t even dig it up.  I was very surprised when it came up this year.  The blooms are not as large as I thought they were supposed to be but they are pretty just the same.

The vinca is doing great. About half are ones I planted and the other half are volunteers.  I have been digging up the volunteers and planting them around the yard.

I ended up with a good mandevilla this year. 

And the impatiens are just wow!

My waddle fence is working just as I had hoped. It is holding back the salvia in an unobtrusive way. 

I just love the yard this year. 

 

Something Old Is New Again

I had a thought the other day about riding Otoelene in a different saddle.  I had change a few years ago to one I thought was a little wider for her. But since I don’t ride for very long or hard anymore I thought I would see if my old saddle might suit me better now. 

My sister had this one custom made for me when I was around 16. It is an equitation saddle. You can see how build up it is in the front. It makes for a very secure seat.  It also sets my legs back under me instead of in front.  

You can see how much flatter the saddle I have been riding in is. It is also about 10 pounds lighter than the custom saddle.  This is my Circle Y trophy saddle for winning the Arabian National horse judging contest in college. I didn’t use it for a long time. But then I decided, what am I saving it for?  It is pretty comfortable but it is also the one I was riding in when I got thrown. So maybe the secure seat of the equation saddle would be better. 

I rode in the equitation saddle today for the first time in years.  Emily had taken it over when she was showing Pep in 4-H.  Otoelene didn’t seem to care one way or the other.  

And guess what, I even cantered for the first time since the accident.  It took Otoelene a couple of minutes to realize I really meant it when I asked he to lope. But she finally came around and behaved for the most part. There isn’t much moving around it that saddle.  But I can really tell how stiff my back is at the lope. I did both ways several laps going from a walk and trot both to the lope. It has been 9 months.  The doctor said the bones would continue to strengthen for a year so I am still trying to g to not over do. I think I had another successful step forward. 

 

Wonderful Weekend

Sadie and Allie were on vacation last week. They came home Friday and called me wanting to come over and spend the night. Of course you can!

The weather took a turn from hot to cold.  So we ended up doing mostly indoor activities. 

There was a visit to the barn to feed the calf and dogs. Sadie wanted to pet everything on the way.

She remembered Gold and petted her too. 

Saturday’s exercise was playing in the garage. Ball, hula hoop, bad mitten, balloons, balance beam

And tricycle. 

And if that wasn’t enough activity, we came inside and did gymnastics.  Allie is showing me how she can do a handstand.  

We need to work more on arm strength and flexibility. I am pretty sure that they had a good time. 
 

Goat Work

It had been a wet July.  Everything has been growing like a jungle.  Joe said he felt like he was living in a rainforest.  I read where someone said the humidity was so high that they were having to drink the air.  All that to say, it was time to deworm the goats.  Goat parasites love wet weather and this is the time of year that we have started having problems.  

We got them all up Thursday night so we could get an early start Friday morning before the temperature got too hot. 

We dewormed the kids and a few of the thinner nannies.  The eyelids I checked were mostly ok, a couple of pale ones but nothing too serious.  I think it was good timing and should help the kids to keep gaining well.  

They were all glad to get back out on pasture.  I feel better now that this job is done.  I hate losing any to worms.  

While we were working, we could hear a helicopter across the creek.  They were spraying the corn.  You can just see it between the two barns.  Thankfully, the wind wasn't too bad and usually doesn't come this direction.  There has been a lot of controversy about this outfit and how much helicopter spraying they do with their Christmas tree operation in a neighboring county.  About 30 minutes after they finished spraying I could see it raining over there.  The rain never made it to our side of the creek.  

Anyway, this showed up on my Facebook page the other day...

I thought it was appropriate.  

 

The Princess And The Pea

I wish her name was Princess but it wasn’t. But to protect her identity I will stick with Princess.   Her owner brought her in this morning because after eating last night she had been snorting and gagging all night.  The owner had topped Princess’s kibble with some carrots and chicken and had added peas for the first time. 

All signs pointed to an upper airway issue. When I squeezed on her nose slightly to see if there was any discharge, she started blowing bubbles.  Radiographs were normal for neck and chest. I kept her to anesthetized and flush her nose. 

The first few flushes produced some mucus and some small chunks that could have been pea insides.  I just wanted to find something bigger.  To flush the nose I pack the back of the throat with a piece of gauze the take a small rubber tube and run it in one nostril. I then flush while holding off the other side so the saline will go into the throat and not out the other nostril.  Before quitting I took one more look to the back of the throat and found…

The pea hull!  She was breathing a lot better when she went home. 
 

Two More Fences

If you are tired of reading about fixing fences, just imagine how tired we are of fixing them.  

This one is around a developed spring head.  It is suppose to keep the livestock from damaging the spring.  But the ground stays wetter there and the post seem to rot off faster.  Plus, Pep uses it as her personal scratching post.  She backs up to the fence, sits back with all her weight and rubs.  Joe is blaming her for the collapse.   Before lunch we were able to get the posts in but didn't get the boards up.   When we went in to eat there was a message on the answering machine from a neighbor that said a big tree had fallen across the fence on the farm we rent across the road.  Because this fence was at the road, it took precedence over the spring fence.  

First trip to take a look and start cutting the tree off the fence.  But before Joe could finish the first cut it started pouring down rain.  

We went back to the house to wait it out.  After the rain stopped we headed back.  

Joe went to finish the cut and the saw got stuck when the tree dropped.  So back to the house to get the tractor.  With the bucket on the tractor Joe was able to push on the tree and I grabbed the saw.  Now we had the big stump still laying on the fence but couldn't cut it more because the saw might hit the wire fence.  

Another trip back to the house for a longer chain and clevis.  Joe was able to pull the stump off the fence but it uprooted and broke off a fence post.  

Fifth trip was the charm, back to the house one last time to get a steel post and post driver.  Did I mention it was also all covered in poison ivy.    It took all afternoon.  And we still had to go back to the house to finish putting the boards up on the first fence.  
 

Mount Rogers 2025

Virginia and Mike have taken the girls to Dollywood for a few day.  That left me and Joe with some free time today.  So after lunch we headed to Mt Rogers for a little hike. 

Joe has been talking about wanting to hike the Appalachian Trail for a couple of years now.  I am pushing for him to do it next year.  First off, he is going to have to get a larger back pack.  But since this was just a short 9 mile hike, he was only carrying our 2 water bottles and two rain ponchos.  

It started raining as soon as we paid the parking fee but stopped as soon as we parked.  

It stayed cloudy and we had a very slight drizzle once.  

The clouds kept the temperature from getting too extreme.  It made for very nice hiking weather. 

We saw lots of ponies but only 2 foals.  I have heard that bears may be getting them.  

Joe said the wild ponies were tamer than Hugo.  

Even with the late start, we still managed to make it to the top, 

at the highest point in Virginia!

This was the second foal we saw.  

The views are spectacular.  

We even saw the long horn cattle that graze there.  

Joe might have to start going on more practice hikes and get some professional gear.  Next year will be big...